FCC approves Dish Network’s cellular LTE plans

We’ve known for a while that Dish Network has wanted to start its own cellular service, but the FCC has stood its way. Well, the feds are no longer a threat to the satellite television provider, as the government agency has unanimously approved Dish’s plan to build a nationwide LTE network. The company plans to compete against all the major wireless providers in the United States.

Shedding some light on the decision to approve Dish Network’s plans to use its spectrum for cellular, a FCC spokeswoman had this to say in a brief statement:

“These actions will help meet skyrocketing consumer demand and promote private investment, innovation and competition, while unlocking billions of dollars of value.”

This may be true. However, it might also open up the floodgates and give Verizon and AT&T another opportunity to hoard more spectrum. The two companies already have a huge duopoly in the U.S. market, so having this spectrum somehow land in their hands could be disastrous for the other smaller carriers.

The deal comes with a couple of requirements Dish will have to abide by. For starters, the company has to hold some wireless spectrum to help prevent its LTE signal from interfering with other communications. Secondly, it must build at least 70 percent of its planned network within six years. We must not rule out Google as a potential wildcard here either.